DragonAtma wrote:Instead of a karma system I'd go with an affiliation system.

You help Sun Jian fight off yellow turbans? You gain some affiliation with Wu.You help Dong Zhuo fight Han Sui? You gain some affiliation with Dong Zhuo.

Then, when something major comes up (such as the coalition against Dong Zhuo), which side you take depends on who you have more affiliation with (you get to pick if it's close). And if the player carefully balances things, they could keep two or even all three kingdoms available to them, even well into the three kingdoms period.

Agreed. Love this idea.

PeanutButterToast wrote:I'd like to see more fleshing out of characters. DW8 kinda made them cardboard again IMO. I liked the 2010 TV show's take on characters. It made them relatable and gave them depth. I'd like that in the next game.

As most of us here are fascinated by the history I think we'd all agree with you. Unfortunately most of the games wider audience probably don't care about fleshed out characters. Realistic I don't think they can do the level of depth we want with the current size of the roster. However if they tried to cut it down there would be fury from fans!

Interested in the history behind the novel? Find a list of english language Three Kingdom sources here.

DragonAtma wrote:Instead of a karma system I'd go with an affiliation system.

You help Sun Jian fight off yellow turbans? You gain some affiliation with Wu.You help Dong Zhuo fight Han Sui? You gain some affiliation with Dong Zhuo.

Then, when something major comes up (such as the coalition against Dong Zhuo), which side you take depends on who you have more affiliation with (you get to pick if it's close). And if the player carefully balances things, they could keep two or even all three kingdoms available to them, even well into the three kingdoms period.

I think Dynasty Warriors will always be an action game first and foremost so we won't ever get the history/political side of things. The characters will never truly be unique, instead they'll all sort of have that like you guys said cardboard personality. I got to say i'm not particularly fond of the open world trend, but I'll give it the game a shot of course. I sort of feel like DW has become stale, but not for the same reasons koei does.

The armour is fantastic, lovely mix of red and gold, tigers on the shoulders and lower down. It's the head that doesn't quite work for me, might be a case of "I'll like it once I adjust to it", the helmet itself looks good but I just find something wrong with the face. Maybe feels too young 5.5

Similar to father, I liked the armour (though I prefer Jian's), good mix of colours, use of tiger, manages to be different from the father. Then I see the head, he looks a bit like someone trying to be a bit cool, a bit of an adult. 5

I'm much more impressed then I thought would be. I like the change of shade to a darker green which allows the gold trims to shine out more, more of an armour about it, lovely helmet (bar the orange plume). Not keen on the yellowy brown bit at front of his legs, nice touch to keep the red ribbon. His face feels more like a figure of authority, someone in command, beard looks good 7.5

Well that feels different. I could do without the revealing leg but otherwise I like it, lovely shade of pink and white, a flower, pretty blue and gold trimmings. Not sure how easy it is to dance on those shoes? 6.5

The blue works well with his golden yellow, a flowing cloak, rich golden armour, it's a solid choice. 6

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

I still think they should have four or five faces per character (young/middle/old/ancient, with a fifth for special cases like Xiahou Dun). It just looks very odd having Liu Bei looks identical in 184 and 220, plus it helps show the passage of time as characters get older and new people show up.

And yes, I realize that some people (such as Sun Ce) wouldn't normally need all four faces here.... but when DyW9:E pops up, suddenly they will!

Unless I specifically say otherwise, assume I am talking about historical Three Kingdoms, and not the novel.

I would like some ageing system as well but never seems to happen in DW

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

So far this is my favorite collection of reveals. The general theme seems to have been to make them all look a bit more serious and their armor more practical, at least as far as I can tell. I think they are almost all at least a small improvement compared to the previous models.

Cao Cao - If it aint broke, don't fix it. They haven't changed too much although I do like the crown/hat upgrade. The armor from his chest-waist also looks a bit better. Not sure about the gloves going half way up his fingers but that's a really small detail.

Sun Jian - Hell yes! I have no idea why they made him look old when he's meant to have died at the age of 36. I love the fur and the new helmet not to mention his badass sword is coming back. Very awesome!

Sun Quan - Again I like the fur and the general changes to his armor. I didn't notice the face until Dong Zhuo pointed it out but I must agree it does look a bit weird.

Liu Bei - I'm glad they made him a bit older and more serious. With the career he had it always felt wrong to make him a naive young man. I'm a bit sad about his shoulder pads but overall a big improvement I'd say.

Diao Chan - Well I'm glad they changed her chest because the old model looked a bit ridiculous. The colors of her costume also seem a bit stronger which is nice.

Yuan Shao - Strangely I don't think he needed the helmet unlike the others. He never struck me as a leader that was going to lead the charge and get into the fighting. I'd rather see his armor on someone like Yan Liang and just have him wearing some fancy robes but I guess the design itself isn't bad.

As for an age system. I think most characters could get away with even two models. Either:

young - middle aged or middle aged - old

Of course some characters like Liu Bei and Zhao Yun would need three or maybe even four but right now I'd settle for two. Rather than giving them an alternate costume where they switch sides, just age their faces a little and maybe add some damage to their armor to make it look more used.

Yuan Shao's face and helmet make him look a bit like he's tribal, so they definitely need to change that. :/ But he definitely led armies (and, at Jieqiao, nearly died in battle).

As for multiple faces, in DyW9 it varies from officer to officer (Dong Zhuo can get away with one, while Sun Quan would need the entire package). But when DyW9:E shows up, they'll need full faceswaps for everyone; the game is perfectly capable of generating Sun Ce on turn 1 and having him around thirty years later. Fortunately, the only things they have to update are face, hair color, and beard (with minor exceptions, such as Xiahou Dun).

Unless I specifically say otherwise, assume I am talking about historical Three Kingdoms, and not the novel.

Instead of adding new characters I think they should add older models of all the existing characters, at least the ones who survive until old age. Makes no sense to have characters like Zhao Yun etc looking like 18 year olds throughout the game.